Administrative roles and naming service authorization

Operating Systems: i5/OS
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Administrative roles and naming service authorization

WebSphere Application Server extends the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) security role-based access control to protect the product administrative and naming subsystems.

Administrative roles

A number of administrative roles are defined to provide the degrees of authority that are needed to perform certain WebSphere Application Server administrative functions from either the administrative console or the system management scripting interface called wsadmin. The authorization policy is only enforced when administrative security is enabled. The following table describes the administrative roles:

Table 1. Administrative roles that are available through the administrative console and wsadmin

Role Description

Monitor An individual or group that uses the monitor role has the least amount of privileges. A monitor can complete the following tasks:

View the WebSphere Application Server configuration.
View the current state of the Application Server.

Configurator An individual or group that uses the configurator role has the monitor privilege plus the ability to change the WebSphere Application Server configuration. The configurator can perform all the day-to-day configuration tasks. For example, a configurator can complete the following tasks:

Create a resource.
Map an application server.
Install and uninstall an application.
Deploy an application.
Assign users and groups-to-role mapping for applications.
Set up Java 2 security permissions for applications.
Customize the Common Secure Interoperability V2 (CSIv2), Security Authentication Service (SAS), and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) configurations.
SAS is supported only between V6.0.x and previous version servers that have been federated in a V6.1 cell.

Operator An individual or group that uses the operator role has monitor privileges plus ability to change the runtime state. For example, an operator can complete the following tasks:

Stop and start the server.
Monitor the server status in the administrative console.

Administrator An individual or group that uses the administrator role has the operator and configurator privileges plus additional privileges that are granted solely to the administrator role. For example, an administrator can complete the following tasks:

Modify the server user ID and password.
Configure authentication and authorization mechanisms.
Enable or disable administrative security.
Note: In previous releases of WebSphere Application Server, the Enable administrative security option is known as the Enable global security option.
Enforce Java 2 security using the Use Java 2 security to restrict application access to local resources option.
Change the Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) password and generate keys.
Create, update, or delete users in the federated repositories configuration.
Create, update, or delete groups in the federated repositories configuration.

Note: An administrator cannot map users and groups to the administrator roles.
Adminsecuritymanager Only users who are granted this role can map users to administrative roles. Also, when fine-grained administrative security is used, only users who are granted this role can manage authorization groups. See Administrative roles for more information.
Deployer Users who are granted this role can perform both configuration actions and runtime operations on applications.

Table 1. Administrative roles that are available through the administrative console and wsadmin

Role	Description
Monitor	An individual or group that uses the monitor role has the least amount of privileges. A monitor can complete the following tasks: View the WebSphere Application Server configuration. View the current state of the Application Server.
Configurator	An individual or group that uses the configurator role has the monitor privilege plus the ability to change the WebSphere Application Server configuration. The configurator can perform all the day-to-day configuration tasks. For example, a configurator can complete the following tasks: Create a resource. Map an application server. Install and uninstall an application. Deploy an application. Assign users and groups-to-role mapping for applications. Set up Java 2 security permissions for applications. Customize the Common Secure Interoperability V2 (CSIv2), Security Authentication Service (SAS), and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) configurations. SAS is supported only between V6.0.x and previous version servers that have been federated in a V6.1 cell.
Operator	An individual or group that uses the operator role has monitor privileges plus ability to change the runtime state. For example, an operator can complete the following tasks: Stop and start the server. Monitor the server status in the administrative console.
Administrator	An individual or group that uses the administrator role has the operator and configurator privileges plus additional privileges that are granted solely to the administrator role. For example, an administrator can complete the following tasks: Modify the server user ID and password. Configure authentication and authorization mechanisms. Enable or disable administrative security. Note: In previous releases of WebSphere Application Server, the Enable administrative security option is known as the Enable global security option. Enforce Java 2 security using the Use Java 2 security to restrict application access to local resources option. Change the Lightweight Third Party Authentication (LTPA) password and generate keys. Create, update, or delete users in the federated repositories configuration. Create, update, or delete groups in the federated repositories configuration. Note: An administrator cannot map users and groups to the administrator roles.
Adminsecuritymanager	Only users who are granted this role can map users to administrative roles. Also, when fine-grained administrative security is used, only users who are granted this role can manage authorization groups. See Administrative roles for more information.
Deployer	Users who are granted this role can perform both configuration actions and runtime operations on applications.

Table 2. Additional administrative role that is available through the administrative console

Role Description

iscadmins This role is only available for administrative console users and not for wsadmin users. Users who are granted this role have administrator privileges for managing users and groups in the federated repositories. For example, a user of the iscadmins role can complete the following tasks:

Create, update, or delete users in the federated repositories configuration.
Create, update, or delete groups in the federated repositories configuration.

Table 2. Additional administrative role that is available through the administrative console

Role	Description
iscadmins	This role is only available for administrative console users and not for wsadmin users. Users who are granted this role have administrator privileges for managing users and groups in the federated repositories. For example, a user of the iscadmins role can complete the following tasks: Create, update, or delete users in the federated repositories configuration. Create, update, or delete groups in the federated repositories configuration.

When administrative security is enabled, the administrative subsystem role-based access control is enforced. The administrative subsystem includes the security server, the administrative console, the wsadmin scripting tool, and all the Java Management Extensions (JMX) MBeans. When administrative security is enabled, both the administrative console and the administrative scripting tool require users to provide the required authentication data. Moreover, the administrative console is designed so the control functions that display on the pages are adjusted, according to the security roles that a user has. For example, a user who has only the monitor role can see only the non-sensitive configuration data. A user with the operator role can change the system state.

When you are changing registries(for example, from a federated repository to LDAP), make sure you remove the information that pertains to the previously configured registry for console users and console groups.

When administrative security is enabled, WebSphere Application Servers run under the server identity that is defined under the active user registry configuration. Although it is not shown on the administrative console and in other tools, a special Server subject is mapped to the administrator role. The WebSphere Application Server runtime code, which runs under the server identity, requires authorization to runtime operations. If no other user is assigned administrative roles, you can log into the administrative console or to the wsadmin scripting tool using the server identity to perform administrative operations and to assign other users or groups to administrative roles. Because the server identity is assigned to the administrative role by default, the administrative security policy requires the administrative role to perform the following operations:

Change server ID and server password
Enable or disable WebSphere Application Serveradministrative security
Enforce Java 2 security using the Use Java 2 security to restrict application access to local resources option.
Change the LTPA password or generate keys
Assign users and groups to administrative roles

Primary administrative user name

The V6.1 release of WebSphere Application Server requires an administrative user, distinguished from the server user identity, to improve auditability of administrative actions. The user name specifies a user with administrative privileges that is defined in the local operating system.

Server user identity

The Version 6.1 release of WebSphere Application Server distinguishes the server identity from the administrative user identity to improve auditability. The server user identity is used for authenticating server-to-server communications.

Internal server ID

The internal server ID enables the automatic generation of the user identity for server-to-server authentication. Automatic generation of the server identity supports improved auditability for cells only for V6.1 or later nodes. In the Version 6.1 release of WebSphere Application Server, you can save the internally-generated server ID because the Security WebSphere Common Configuration Model (WCCM) model contains a new tag, internalServerId. You do not need to specify a server user ID and a password during security configuration except in a mixed-cell environment. An internally-generated server ID adds a further level of protection to the server environment because the server password is not exposed as it is in releases prior to V6.1. However, to maintain backwards compatibility, specify the server user ID if you use earlier versions of WebSphere Application Server.

When enabling security, you can assign one or more users and groups to naming roles. For more information, see Assigning users to naming roles. However, before assigning users to naming roles, configure the active user registry. User and group validation depends on the active user registry. For more information, see Configuring user registries.

Special subject

In addition to mapping users or groups, you can map a special-subject to the administrative roles. A special-subject is a generalization of a particular class of users. The AllAuthenticated special subject means that the access check of the administrative role ensures that the user making the request is at least authenticated. The Everyone special subject means that anyone, authenticated or not, can perform the action as if security is not enabled.

Naming service authorization

CosNaming security offers increased granularity of security control over CosNaming functions. CosNaming functions are available on CosNaming servers such as the WebSphere Application Server. These functions affect the content of the WebSphere Application Server name space. Generally, you have two ways in which client programs result in CosNaming calls. The first is through the Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) call. The second is with common object request broker architecture (CORBA) clients invoking CosNaming methods directly. Four security roles are introduced :

CosNamingRead
CosNamingWrite
CosNamingCreate
CosNamingDelete

The roles have authority levels from low to high:

CosNamingRead: You can query the WebSphere Application Server name space, using, for example, the JNDI lookup method. The special-subject, Everyone, is the default policy for this role.
CosNamingWrite: You can perform write operations such as JNDI bind, rebind, or unbind, and CosNamingRead operations. As a default policy, Subjects are not assigned this role.
CosNamingCreate: You can create new objects in the name space through such operations as JNDI createSubcontext and CosNamingWrite operations. As a default policy, Subjects are not assigned this role.
CosNamingDelete: You can destroy objects in the name space, for example using the JNDI destroySubcontext method and CosNamingCreate operations. As a default policy, Subjects are not assigned this role.

A Server special-subject is assigned to all of the four CosNaming roles by default. The Server special-subject provides a WebSphere Application Server process, which runs under the server identity, to access all the CosNaming operations. The Server special-subject does not display and cannot be modified through the administrative console or other administrative tools.

Special configuration is not required to enable the server identity as specified when enabling administrative security for administrative use because the server identity is automatically mapped to the administrator role.

Users, groups, or the special subjects AllAuthenticated and Everyone can be added or removed to or from the naming roles from the WebSphere Application Server administrative console at any time. However, a server restart is required for the changes to take effect.

A best practice is to map groups or one of the special-subjects, rather than specific users, to naming roles because it is more flexible and easier to administer in the long run. By mapping a group to a naming role, adding or removing users to or from the group occurs outside of WebSphere Application Server and does not require a server restart for the change to take effect.

The CosNaming authorization policy is only enforced when administrative security is enabled. When administrative security is enabled, attempts to do CosNaming operations without the proper role assignment result in an org.omg.CORBA.NO_PERMISSION exception from the CosNaming server.

Each CosNaming function is assigned to only one role. Therefore, users who are assigned the CosNamingCreate role cannot query the name space unless they have also been assigned CosNamingRead. And in most cases a creator needs to be assigned three roles: CosNamingRead, CosNamingWrite, and CosNamingCreate. The CosNamingRead and CosNamingWrite roles assignment for the creator example are included in the CosNamingCreate role. In most of the cases, WebSphere Application Server administrators do not have to change the roles assignment for every user or group when they move to this release from a previous one.

Although the ability exists to greatly restrict access to the name space by changing the default policy, unexpected org.omg.CORBA.NO_PERMISSION exceptions can occur at runtime. Typically, J2EE applications access the name space and the identity they use is that of the user that authenticated to WebSphere Application Server when accessing the J2EE application. Unless the J2EE application provider clearly communicates the expected naming roles, use caution when changing the default naming authorization policy.

Related concepts

Authorization technology

Related tasks

Assigning users to naming roles
Selecting a registry or repository